All About Us
by The Wandering Muse
Summary: "Take my hand, I'll teach you to dance. I'll spin you around, won't let you fall down. Would you let me lead, you can step on my feet. Give it a try, it will be alright." He Is We. Set during season 1 Bloodlines. AU. Damon didn't come to Elena's rescue, someone else did. Prologue of Sweet Cruelty.
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning

Elena Gilbert grips the steering wheel tightly as she accelerates out of the Salvatore's driveway and onto the empty road. How could she have been so stupid to fall for him? He was that charming guy every girl in school would fall for, with that natural perfect hair and brooding look.

She blinks back tears and wipes them angrily. Katherine, Stefan's former flame back from 1864 that looked exactly like her; it felt as though she was looking at a mirror reflection of herself. How is it they look exactly alike?

It doesn't matter anymore; she would break up with him tomorrow and find a way to move past the fact that he was most likely dating her because she shared the same face as this Katherine. Didn't he warn her to stay away from him? She thinks furiously and remembers their conversation in the car.

"You saw what happened today right? You understand why we can't see each other," She had replied, "I'm starting to see a lot of things, Stefan. But I was already buried in all this bad stuff long before I met you."

"This is different."

That was the warning, but she never realized what he meant until now. Now that she had seen who Katherine was. She grabbed her things, tossed the necklace he'd given to her on his table and rushed downstairs.

She peeled out of the driveway immediately, wanting nothing more but to put plenty of distance from the vampire who could easily meet her at her driveway instead. She was so far into her thoughts that by the time she noticed a lone hooded figure standing in the middle of the road, it was far too late to stop. The force of the impact flips her car over, the windscreen cracks from the sheer brutal force of the crash, trapping her to her seat upside-down.

Elena coughs and tries to get her bearings. She turns and sees the man lying on the ground, unmoving. "I killed him", she thinks guiltily. She yanks on her seatbelt and tries fruitlessly to unbuckle it.

Suddenly, she hears an odd popping noise and turns her head. To her horror, she watches as the hooded figure slowly starts to raise his leg, popping it back into place, joint by joint he put himself back together until he could stand again. Frantically, she starts yanking harder on the jammed seatbelt, trying to break free. He starts moving towards her slowly until his boots stop right in front of her car window.

Elena whimpers and tears start to form at the corner of her eyes. Her hands shake as she struggles desperately against her restraints. Regrets start to fill her mind as she thinks back to how she should have just confronted Stefan when she had seen the photo. Her cowardice had led her to this perilous situation.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the hooded figure lower himself. Fear overcomes her and she starts screaming, all the while frantically tugging at her restraints. Just as the hooded face is about to come into view, he suddenly jerks up, an instant later, he flashes away, leaving Elena confused short tugging at the seatbelt and leans forward to try to look out of the shattered car window.

Without warning, a second figure lands right in front of her with a huge thump. Instinctively, Elena covers her eyes with her hands and a loud scream escapes her lips.

"Well, what do we have here? Little girls should be at home, safe from big bad scary monsters," a voice that very obviously belonged to a woman reached her ears. Curious, Elena peeks between her fingers and the sight causes her to freeze wide in disbelief.

"Y… "You're Katherine…?" Elena shakily manages to say.

The figure in front of her was pretty much her mirror reflection tilts her head in curiosity as she studies her human look-a-like.

"You know of me. Did Stefan tell you that?" Elena shakes her head hard.

The movement causes a sharp pain to shoot through her head and her vision blurred as she groaned painfully. She feels movement on the other side and clutches her seatbelt tightly. Her vision still blurred, she feels something move at her side.

"W… Wha… What are you do… doing?" Elena shakily stammers as the one deemed Katherine reaches towards her.

"Getting you out," Katherine replies curtly with a vicious tug at the seat buckle.

When Elena starts trashing wildly, Katherine forces the human to look at her and compels her not to freak out. She watches as the human stop flailing her useless hands around and then half-carries a frightened Elena out of the car who blinks owlishly at her.

"What did you do to me?"

Katherine smirks and ignores her as she sets Elena on her feet, checking her discreetly for injuries. The human just collapses, unable to stand. Rolling her eyes, the vampire catches her before she falls. Katherine checks her pulse, feeling the human's neck. She runs her fingers down Elena's straight hair. "Elena, look at me. Focus." Her doppelganger seemed completely out of it and was fading fast.

"What do I do with you?" Katherine sighs as Elena's head falls against her chest and blacks out.

.~.

Hours later, Elena dizzily wakes up, her head throbbing and looks around. It takes her a while to register that her surroundings are unfamiliar to her. She is buckled into the passenger seat of a car that most certainly isn't hers. She turns to her left and sees a replica of herself who may share the same face but her hair is different from her usual straight locks. Elena feels confused and distorted for a moment until the memories of what had happened comes rushing back. Struggling to sit up, she stares at the road then at Katherine again, who calmly glances at her and then back to the road.

"Morning." Katherine says cheerily.

Elena crosses her arms defensively. "Where are we?" she asks.

Without taking her eyes off the road, Katherine replies: "We're in Georgia."

Deep in her consciousness, something felt wrong. Yet at the same time, Elena felt that everything was the way it should be save the throbbing headache that was aching painfully. She tried to figure out what it was that felt wrong, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She was sitting in the same vehicle as Stefan's former flame, yet instead of freaking out, she was okay with it. Even though thoughts that she was missing her first period of class came to her; or the fact that she had hit a man hard enough to send him flying and watched him simply walk it off, yet, here she was sitting calmly in a car.

She unconsciously reaches for her necklace – Stefan's necklace – but it isn't hanging around her neck. She groans at her stupid mistake of falling prey to vampires. Elena reaches for her phone and finds her jeans pocket empty.

She narrows her eyes at the driver. "Where's my phone? I can't be in Georgia. Nobody knows where I am."

Katherine ignores her for a while, thinking the puny human would eventually stop her tirade of annoying complaints. When it appears that the human isn't going to give up since she starts insisting that they pull over by threatening to open the door on her side, Katherine slams her brakes.

"Ugh, you were so much more fun when you are sleeping." Katherine groans.

Elena opens the car door slowly and steps out. She instantly feels light-headed and bends down. Instinctively, Katherine flashes towards her in concern and startles Elena who instantly straightens up and freezes.

"I'm fine," Elena takes a step away from Katherine who quietly observes her. "We need to go back. My aunt is going to freak out. I won't tell anyone about this. Please just let me go." Elena tries to rationalize with the older vampire.

"You just had a car accident and you want me to go back. Do you know the vampire you ran over, Elena?" Katherine shakes her head as she continues speaking "Do you want another repeat of last night? No? Then get back in the car."

Elena stands firm, crossing her arms stubbornly and protests: "This is kidnapping."

Katherine scoffs. "Oh, don't be so dramatic. Time-out just for five minutes, Elena Gilbert. I'll have you home by tonight princess. Promise." Receiving no more protests, she walks back to her borrowed car and sits back in the driver's seat, waiting patiently for her human doppelganger to follow suit. She fights back a smirk as she starts the car as soon as she hears the car door slam followed by a frustrated sigh.

As they continue driving down the empty road, a phone starts ringing. Katherine pulls Elena's phone out of her pocket and glances at the screen.

"Stefan's calling." Katherine says before passing the phone to Elena.

Elena takes the phone from Katherine and stares at it for a while before pressing the reject button and tosses it into the back seat of the car.

They continue on in silence, the only noises that could be heard were the insects and the occasional vehicle that passed by as they drove down the empty road.

Just as they come up to a bar, Katherine veers sharply into the parking area and shuts down the engine.

"I'm underage." Elena states bluntly as Katherine exits the car.

She doesn't know if she had been heard or not but Katherine slammed the car door close and started walking towards the bar. Sighing, Elena climbs out of the car and follows after Katherine.

Katherine struts up to the bar counter, orders shots for the both of them and compels the middle-age bartender to put them on the house. She watches the bartender's pupils dilate and dazedly follows her orders.

Meanwhile, Elena takes a seat beside Katherine and glances around. There aren't many people around as the bar was pretty much in the middle of no-where, that and it was still very early in the morning. Katherine pushes the glass towards her younger counterpart who shakes her head stubbornly.

"More for me then" Katherine shrugs nonchalantly as she drowns both shots.

She walks towards the billiards table and grabs one of the cue sticks from the stand. From her spot with her enhanced hearing, she hears Elena order a coke. The sound of the drink splashing into the glass from the bottle reaches her ears clearly. Her heart thumps a little faster than normal before steadying itself.

A couple of graduates join her, breaking her reverie. She smiles coyly and plays with them. They would be her dinner later.

.~.

It takes a while for Elena to loosen her guard. She glances at Katherine who is twirling around with the same college boys from earlier. The confidence and freedom that the older vampire exudes as she dances leaves Elena feeling insecure and unbalanced.

They shared the same face and stature yet their personalities are so vastly different. She is controlled, reserved, and always wants to do what is right. On the other hand, her older counterpart is upbeat, carefree, seductive and playful. The moment Katherine Pierce stepped into the bar, all eyes had focused on her, and they had practically ignored the shy, awkward Elena Gilbert that had walked in behind her.

She considers getting up from her seat to dance with Katherine, whom has managed to attract a sizeable group. She looks down at the remainder of her drink and gathers up whatever courage she could from within her. She gulps down her coke and walks determinedly towards the group forcing herself to ignore the urge to run back to the safety of her seat.

As she approaches the group, she wonders about what she should do to reach the surrounded vampire. Just as she is about to come up with something, a soft pair of hands grabs her wrist and pulls her into the circle of guys who have formed a tight circle around the alluring Katherine. Hips sway synchronically to the pulsing music; hands rise above their heads and swing loosely together.

As much as Elena didn't want to admit it, the idea of an impromptu road trip was actually coming to be quite fun. She had never let loose and gotten this wild before. It would be a shame to end it.

Who would have thought she could have so much fun with a person who looked just like her, yet was so much older, more experienced, and just oozed with the right amount of confidence and allure?

Elena feels Katherine pull her in by her hip so that they were dancing more closely. She tosses a grin at Katherine who's already dark eyes seem to be getting even darker. Elena, curious at first just assumes the lights must be getting dimmer to accommodate the atmosphere.

One of the college boys start moving towards the doppelgangers. Katherine intercepts him, looks him hard in the eyes and whispers something to him. She dances with him closely for a moment, and then tilts his neck to a side exposing his jugular. Elena sees Katherine's iris darken even more and watches mesmerizingly as Katherine's face switches as her fangs sink into the boy's throat. Both of the doppelgangers' eyes lock onto each other, neither one looking away until Katherine has had her fill.

Elena pushes her way out of the crowd and heads towards the exit for a breather and to process the event that had just unfolded before her eyes. She heads towards the car and leans against the car, running her hand through her hair. She spies her phone vibrating incessantly away in the back seat of their borrowed car. She groans and yanks the handle open, scooping the phone and hitting answer button.

"Hey, it's Stefan. Are you okay? Where are you, Elena? Nobody has seen you all day. Jenna is freaking out." Stefan's worried and urgent voice comes through the speaker.

Elena groans as she remembers that she had forgotten to tell Aunt Jenna of her whereabouts. She had been having so much fun with Stefan's former lover that she had completely forgotten about her situation.

She hears him repeat himself, this time adding "Look, tell me where you are and I'll come pick you up."

Elena sighs into the phone and then remembers she should be angry at him for last night's incident. She bites back, "Not until you tell me how I am connected to Katherine, Stefan. I deserve to know."

"I don't know, Elena. I -" Not wanting to hear anymore, she ends the call mid-sentence.

Frustrated, she kicks a pebble angrily and watches it roll a small distance towards the middle of the parking area. The afternoon sky was turning into a darker shade of blue. Disappointment sets in as she realizes the day is about to end. She turns to head back inside the bar but is startled by Katherine standing behind her.

"Are you alright?" Katherine asks, studying her human doppelganger. Elena is so weak, helpless, and innocent, that it is almost nauseating for the vampire who has seen too much to be around her. Elena reminds her of herself in the past. The past her those many centuries ago before everything had changed; before she had met the mysterious brooding Niklaus and his dashing well-mannered brother, Elijah.

She had changed her fate, not to die but to survive. While on the run, she had heard rumors of a doppelganger and a prophecy. Curiosity had gotten the better of her and she had gone to check for herself.

And so she had met Elena Gilbert. The young, innocent Elena Gilbert who was still very much unaware she is going to die before her life even began. Or that she is repeating history all over again by for falling for Stefan Salvatore.

No! Katherine thinks to herself, I won't get attached like Stefan did. The doppelganger is the ticket to her freedom. Five hundred years of running from the hybrid had made it such that she would do just about anything to hand the human over. Elena Gilbert is nothing more but a means to an end.

"I'm fine." Elena replies just as her stomach growls loudly.

Holding back a chuckle, Katherine says: "How about an early dinner? Burgers?" She gives a tight-lipped smile and guides Elena back into the bar.

Whilst waiting for their meals to arrive, Elena asks Katherine the question that has been in her mind, on the tip of her tongue but never coming out until now.

"Why do we look exactly alike?"

Katherine smirks and absently twirls the beer on the table.

"You're asking the wrong question." She answers coyly.

Elena narrows her eyes and frowns.

She tries again. "Are you getting back with Stefan?"

Katherine smirks and drawls. "Now that is a better question. Refill?" She gestures at Elena's glass.

Elena pauses and then suddenly declares to the bartender who was hovering near them. "I'll have what my twin has."

When Katherine arches a delicate eyebrow at her, she grins mischievously.

"Time out for five minutes, remember? Well those five minutes is going to need a beer."

Halfway through their dinner, Katherine abandon's her half-eaten burger and instead starts stealing Elena's fries off her plate. The time they had spent together had caused Elena to completely drop her guard around the older vampire, and she was now completely comfortable with Katherine. A sudden curious thought hits Elena and she blurts it out without thinking.

"How can you eat human food when you're a…" Elena starts and stops and then glances around whispers: "A vampire?"

Katherine smiles, bemused, and leans in to whisper to Elena: "Well as long as I stick to a healthy diet of human blood, I can eat whatever I want."

.~.

After a few hours of driving, they arrive at Mystic Falls. Katherine parks the car at the side of the road and turns to find Elena fast asleep in the passenger seat, her head leaning against the car door.

She gently shakes the human awake. With Elena disorientated and groggy, Katherine decides to take advantage of the weak human's condition.

She presses a firm thumb to Elena's chin and forces the doppelganger to stare confusedly into her dark eyes. "Let's keep this friendship between us. You are not to tell anyone what happened when you were out of town or that I am back in town." The doppelganger's eyes dilate with the vampire's request and then blink a couple of times.

Elena steps out of the car and is immediately consumes by renewed worry and panic.

How is she going to explain to Aunt Jenna where she was earlier? What about her car? Is it still lying at the side of the road?

All these thoughts come crashing back to her like a tidal wave. She bends down to meet Katherine's eyes in a silent demand for an explanation to her overwhelming feelings.

Katherine looks her nails as she says coolly: "I compelled you not to freak out when you're with me. There are always loopholes in everything, Elena. I'll see you real soon."

Just like that, she re-starts the engine and peels out of the curb, disappearing into the night and leaving Elena Gilbert to face the consequences of her actions.

* * *

**A/N: That's all for now. Instead of one-shot, there will be a couple of chapters to be posted that will spur the Sweet Cruelty series. Reviews are very much appreciated. Chapter two will be out most likely during the middle of May. Check my profile for more updates! Ciao~**


	2. Chapter 2: Break-Up

_Dear Diary, this morning was different. I met this girl __who looks exactly like me! She sort of abducted me and we took a road trip. But, she's __nothing like me. We had a great time together. I hope to see her again__,__ because for the first time in __a__ long time, I feel good. There's something about her that makes her dangerous and sensual.__ But__ at the same time, every fiber in my body is telling me to stay away. __I can't… I need to know more. Change is coming. I can sense it in the air. _

_I spoke with Caroline this afternoon and she told me she has feelings for Matt. He's moving on too. I'm glad for him__; he__ deserves to be happy. _

_There's __a sort of __dark and twisted aura surrounding the Salvatore brothers. __All this bad energy I'm feeling feels like some sort of a contraption__ – it pulls you away when you let yourself go too deep and then pushes you back when you're too far. What you__ do know can hurt you, but what you don't know could too._

_~w~_

Elena closes her diary and puts it back in its hiding spot. She yells "Bye!" when she hears Aunt Jenna and Jeremy shouting at her from the front door. Aunt Jenna is chaperoning while Jeremy is on punch duty to make up for his lousy grades so they are going to the school first.

Elena makes her way to the bathroom to do her hair and make-up. _He's __doing much better ever since she had Damon compel him to forget about Vicki__._

The school is hosting the traditional 1950s dance like they do every year. It was last minute and she had no time to plan her outfit, not when she recently ran over a vampire and then meet her vampire twin sister. Planning her outfit was the last thing on her list. She just had too many things to process and it still hasn't quite sunk in.

Just when she is thinking of one seductive vampire, Katherine shows up unannounced in her bedroom, startling Elena who recovers quickly.

"Katherine! What are you doing here?"

Katherine replies with a smile. "Checking up on my doppelganger. You know, making sure you're still alive and not trapped upside-down somewhere." She does a quick cursory of Elena's room with open curiosity.

"Nice outfit by the way," she comments on the human's attire. "Very conservative."

Elena blushes at the compliment. "Thanks… and Katherine, I wanted to tell-"

Katherine cocks her head to one side and tunes out Elena's speech. She then focuses on the odd scraping sound coming from downstairs.

_That__'s__ strange_, she muses silently.

Elena's brother and aunt left earlier. There shouldn't be anyone downstairs unless one of them had forgotten something and doubled back.

She flashes off leaving Elena confused and hanging in mid-sentence.

"Katherine?" Elena shouts after her.

Katherine reaches the hallway leading to both the living room and the kitchen. She decides to check the Gilbert's living room first. Nothing seems out of place.

Katherine sighs quietly. Was she over-thinking this; she'd spent too long constantly looking over her shoulder, afraid of that malicious manipulative hybrid.

"You look just like her," an awed male voice speaks from behind. She turns around to find a hooded teen clothed in black, eyeing her up and down leeringly.

Starting to feel annoyed she thinks: 'This must be the guy Elena ran over.'

Katherine asks, not finding the vampire familiar. "Like who?"

"Katherine, who else?" The vampire drawls.

Questions filled Katherine's head. _He knew her? From how far back? Is he one of Klaus's informants?_

"Katherine?" A younger voice broke her train of thought.

The unknown assailant whirls around to find the real Elena standing on the stairs, all dressed up for the dance.

She takes several steps away from the hooded vampire, recognizing him from that night's incident.

Confusion and fear both on her face and in her face, she stutters: "Y… Y-You're that pizza delivery guy…"

Realization dawns upon the vampire as he starts to connect the dots.

"Wait… if you're Elena, then…" He turns back to Katherine who is watching him warily. "How did you escape from the tomb?"

She steps closer to him quietly asking, "What do you know about the tomb?"

"I was there. Don't you remember me? I'm Noah! We met in 1864. I was going to rescue you." Noah explains animatedly. "But that doesn't matter anymore. You're here, alive." His face suddenly turns to anger as he continues: "That bitch tricked me. She told me you were stuck in the tomb along with the rest of our kind."

The new tidbit perks the older vampire's interest and she asks: "Who?"

Noah stunned at first replies her: "Anna. She said she found a way to get you out. We just need-" Crack. Thud. He falls on the ground unconscious, his neck in an odd angle.

"Did you… know him?" Elena watches Katherine cautiously. Her eyes had darkened considerably and Elena wonders if her older counterpart had fed recently.

Katherine shakes her head as she forces herself to stay calm for the human's sake. _Of course, she knew him – that love-sick fool who had fallen for her charm. She had turned him in promise of being together. _But, Elena didn't need to know that.

She turns to the 'dead' vampire and stares at him for a moment before deciding what she needs to do with him.

"God, he's heavy." She complains as she heaves the unconscious vampire up, groaning.

Elena trails behind her curiously.

Sensing the human's growing curiosity, Katherine pauses to take a breath before turning around to face Elena.

"Stefan's going to arrive soon, Elena. Don't worry about this, princess. I'll make sure he never bothers you again. Enjoy your night and try not to invite anymore way ward vampires in."

She flashes out with Noah into the night, leaving Elena to carefully lock the back door.

~w~

During the dance, Stefan pulls her in for a dance whilst she quietly ponders what to do.

Stefan's voice breaks her train of thought: "Hey, you okay? You're pretty quiet tonight."

Elena casually shrugs the concern off saying: "It's nothing. I'm just thinking."

Stefan licks his lips and says: "Elena, listen, about that day… when you took off, Elena. I was worried about you. I want you to know that you are nothing like Katherine. She's-"

Elena immediately cuts him off and pushes him away saying: "I don't want to hear it, Stefan." She turns away from him not wanting to look at him.

Exasperated, Stefan says: "Look Elena, just hear me out alright?"

"No!" Elena spits as she spins back angrily toward him. "I thought back on what you said, on the way back in the car. You're right on a lot of things, Stefan. You should have come clean to me months ago. You should have told me about Katherine. That I look exactly like her. But you never did. I had to find out the hard way. So let's make this clear. I'm breaking up with you. I'm done. I'm done with trying to be your former flame's shadow self."

She spins around and walks away from him. She sees her two friends, Caroline and Bonnie standing near a table and heads towards them. They seem deep in angered discussion about something. As she got closer, she hears her blond friend say in an irritated voice: "What the hell is he doing here?"

Their glares change direction and targets at Elena smiling awkwardly stammers: "Uh… hi."

Caroline snaps jealously, furious that the new hot strangers who have mysteriously arrived to town have both been attracted to plain ol' Elena Gilbert. And then, to top it off, she discovers that the brothers are both vampires and that she and Bonnie are forced to keep their secret… or rather she has been compelled to not tell her mother aka the sheriff.

"One Salvatore brother isn't enough for you, Elena? You just had to grab the bad brother too? Let's go, Bonnie. This party sucks." She stalks away with an apologetic Bonnie trailing behind.

Elena sighs miserably. Her night was getting bad to worse. Katherine had been wrong. She wasn't enjoying the dance at all.

She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear as she watches Damon talk to her best friends and then get slammed by Caroline.

After the girls walk off in a huff, she catches his eyes and makes his way towards her.

"Damon, what did you do now?" Stefan wearily says as he comes up behind Elena who groans internally.

Damon shrugs indifferently. "Nothing. Nothing at all dear brother. I'm trying to be nice and apologize for my past… indiscretions."

He smiles widely at Elena as if noticing her for the first time.

"Would you have this dance with me please, Elena? My heart can't take another rejection."

She takes her time to ponder but accepts his hand. He smiles genuinely at her and spins her around.

Damon starts off by effortlessly twirling her around the dance floor.

Midway through the song, Elena coyly pleads with Damon: "Show me some dance moves from the 50s, pretty please?"

"As my fair lady commands," he mock-bows at her and shows off a couple of moves, causing her to laugh.

As she spins on the spot, she sees the other Salvatore brother. Hands in his pockets, looking on them both, his eyes darken with hurt and jealously.

~w~

Somewhere in the school, a young short female with medium-length black hair that reaches her shoulders, who could easily pass for an ordinary teenager. In her hands she holds a tightly bound brown journal in her arms.

She grins happily as she skips towards the school's back exit. In her pale slender arms holds the key to her mother's freedom… and Katherine's impending betrayal.

* * *

**AN: So how do you like it? It's a lot shorter than the first one and.. I'm almost done with the next two chapters which will be posted within the following two weeks… But if you like those out sooner, you could always review and I'll be tempted to feed my hungry readers. More reviews = faster updates! ;) Ciao~****  
**


	3. Chapter3: All That Trouble For a Spell

**A/N: Thank you so much for your reviews. I'd never thought with just two chapters, I have more than 10 reviews, favorites, and follows each. I've been walking on cloud nine for the past 2 weeks. To make amends for rushing things in the previous chapter, I made it up with this chapter – its 17 pages long. So have at it… I do hope you enjoy reading it just as much as I've enjoyed writing.**

* * *

Chapter 3: All That Trouble For a Spell part I

It is one of those depressing days where he watches couples on the street hold hands, stare at each other lovingly and whisper sweet words just for each other's ears. He hears every sweet word with his super enhanced hearing and he wants to murder them all.

_Why does life have to be so unfair? I couldn't save her a hundred and fifty years ago and now I find out she's still alive and stuck in that damned tomb! _Every plan he came up with had been foiled or interrupted by his selfish brother.

_Never trust Blondie to do your dirty work. _He scowls darkly as he ambles aimlessly around town. He had given her Emily Bennett's talisman for safe-keeping and she mindlessly gave it to that uptight witch whom was possessed by Emily's ghost.

Emily Bennett whose family he had sworn to protect had betrayed him and destroyed the only mystical ingredient that could save Katherine's life. It was his entire fault. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. He curses internally.

Too preoccupied in his thoughts, Damon marches headlong into a petite female with black hair. _Stupid human_. _Did she not notice my dark dashing, brooding stature?_' The impact sends her crashing to the pavement, her books tumble to the floor and scatter around the girl. Definitely a high-school student and judging from her scrawny size, _freshman_.

He watches as she scrambles for her books amusedly, before putting on a smarmy smile and squatting down toward the unsuspecting student to pick up the last remaining book.

Her face comes into view at last. "Anna?" Damon's expression went from overly cocky to downright shock.

He had assumed he and his brother were the only vampires in town, well apart from the newly turned Logan Fell. Last he had heard from Sheriff Forbes was that someone else had staked him. _Could it be her?_

He remembered meeting her back in 1864, when Katherine first introduced him. She was that innocent, shy little girl who would watch them from a distance. He'd never spoken to her in person before.

The ghostly memory sends him remembering that fated night he had been reminiscing since morning.

He glances around at his surroundings and hurriedly pulls her into a nearby back-alley. She snatches the last book which he'd temporarily forgotten to pass it back.

"What are you doing here?"

"Doing the same exact thing you are. I'm getting my mother out. And this time, my plan is going to work but we need to work together." Anna shoots back.

Damon rubs his face. "What do you mean this time?"

Anna scowls at him. "I've watched you screw up every single plan ever since the passing of the comet. You've gone soft with the Gilbert girl."

She steps closer to Damon who eyes her distrustfully. "She's not Katherine, Damon. Don't stray too far away. Remember, your Katherine is in the tomb, and if you want her out, you'll need to get Emily's Grimoire to undo the spell. Jonathan Gilbert's journal didn't mention the Grimoire at all. I'll get the witch. Meet me at the town square tonight."

Anna watches him, all the while backing away, "The question is: how much do you want her back in your life?"

She flashes off, leaving the older Salvatore to process what just happened. He walks out of the back alley and spies that same lovey-dovey couple he had been eavesdropping on earlier. _Will rescuing her be worth all the misery I've been put through…?_

~o~

Sometime around late morning, Stefan strolls into the library which contains chock full of books. Most of them were novels, poetry, and journals dating back all the way during the founding days of Mystic Falls.

He watches as Damon pulls journal after journal, flipping through page after page trying to find a clue. He decides to reveal himself, after all he had nothing to do; no girl to give his undivided attention to.

"You're not going to find the location of the Grimoire in dad's journal. I already read it, Damon. There's nothing useful."

Damon distractedly shoos him away without looking up, "Go play with the squirrels, brother."

Stefan grins broadly as he stops in front of Damon whom is sitting and reading, hunched with his elbows resting on their deceased father's desk.

He swirls his bourbon in his glass before speaking, "I'm going to help you find the Grimoire, on one condition."

Damon looks up suspiciously. "Why are you helping me now? Too much free time on your hands since Elena dumped your sorry boring ass?" He drawls and leans back in his chair.

Stefan puts his drink down and folds his arms unimpressed. "The faster you get out of this town with Katherine, the better it will be for everyone."

Damon retorts sharply back. "You mean the safer Elena will be? Wait till she finds out who you truly are. That the blood-starved crazy monster who rips out all those poor innocents' heads off and then tries so... so hard to fix them back together. All this time, the real monster has been hiding behind that heroic persona you always seem to fondly portray." He ends the sentence with a smirk.

Stefan growls angrily and grabs his older brother's shirt to yank him out of the chair. A moment later he finds himself sprawled onto the carpeted floor instead.

Damon picks up Stefan's glass of bourbon and takes a sip, savoring the liquid as it burns down his throat.

He watches as Stefan blinks as he takes in his new surroundings. "You're weak! You think by feeding on animal blood, you could stand a chance against me and win? I _will_ find the Grimoire, and I will get Katherine back!"

Damon strolls slowly back to the chair where he left his jacket. He takes his time shrugging the jacket on as he heads toward the front door, whistling.

As he walks out the door, he pops his head back in, "Oh, and if you try that one more time, I will end you."

_~o~_

He finds Bonnie Bennett and Caroline Forbes sitting together on a bench and heads towards them. "Bonnie! Just the girl I'm looking for."

"Not again." The witch huffs angrily.

He replies charmingly, "Come on. I'm just looking for a fresh start. Give me what I want and I'll leave you alone. What do you say?" He extends his hand towards Bonnie. "Hi, I'm Damon Salvatore and you are..."

"Not interested," Bonnie abruptly stands up and grabs Caroline's hand to leave the park, but Damon has other ideas.

He uses his vampire speed to block the pair.

"I tried to be nice." He warns her and then yanks Blondie from the witch's grasp.

Caroline's surprised exclamation gets ignored by the Salvatore. "Bonnie! You're a witch-" He covers her mouth to shut her up. "I can very easily snap your neck and you will never see mommy again," Damon threatens.

He smiles when Blondie goes still in fear; her blue eyes widen and start to dart everywhere but at him. "Now, where is the Grimoire?"

Time seems to pause between the witch and the vampire as they both engage in a glaring contest. Neither budges from their positions. Caroline decides to make a risky move and bites his hand hard. He shouts out in anger and he removes his hand temporarily. As he reaches out to grab his hostage again with his good hand, an exploding pain pierces through his head. He falls to his knees and cradles his head in pain.

"Care, are you okay? We have to go. Now. I can't hold him for long."

Damon manages to utter a threat before more painful groans escape his throat. "I'm getting the Grimoire one way or another, Bennett."

_~o~_

At the Gilberts' house:

Elena sleepily walks into the kitchen and pulls out a bowl from the cabinet before she opens another cupboard and takes her favorite cereal out to pour into the bowl. She opens the fridge to get the carton of milk, yawning away.

"Morning Elena," Jeremy says cheerily.

She mumbles a 'good morning' in his direction and drops heavily into the dining chair with her bowl of cereal.

Tired was an understatement. It feels like a lazy Saturday and all Elena wants to do is laze at home, write in her journal, and probably catch up on some TV shows she had missed out on. She figured it was just Jer and her at home. Aunt Jenna usually went to the Grill to work on her thesis. If Elena had to guess, it would have something to do with the new history teacher, Alaric Saltzman.

After finishing her breakfast, she gets up slowly and places her empty bowl into the dishwasher before heading upstairs.

If she noticed a certain female doppelganger noisily raiding her closet, she doesn't jump in shock. Instead she mumbles tiredly. "What are you doing here, Katherine?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm looking for clean clothes to wear. Don't you have anything more... revealing?" Katherine complains as she ransacks through Elena's wardrobe.

Elena sighs before going over to where her journal lies hidden. She glances quickly at the vampire who seems to be too engrossed to the point that she was over-working herself into a frenzied state.

She takes the journal out and curls up by the window. She takes note after staring at a busy Katherine for a while that she was still wearing the same outfit from the day they met, but her hair had been straightened to look like hers exactly.

As she shakes her head to clear her grogginess, she mutters to herself. "Our town is big enough to accommodate a shopping mall, you know."

Katherine hears her anyways; no matter how softly the human speaks, she could still hear her. She ignores the comment as she finally manages to find Elena's hipster jeans.

_Now... to find a top_, she thinks as she starts to hum happily.

It takes the vampire a good ten minutes to find a shirt she didn't mind wearing. She had to remind herself constantly she is pretending to be 'plain Jane' Elena Gilbert for a day.

She strips out of her old outfit in front of Elena, fully aware of Elena's stares.

The sound of a hitched gasp, followed by the pen clattering to the floor tells her that she has Elena's undivided attention. Katherine turns slowly to face Elena, grinning, as she steps into Elena's jeans and wiggles her hips; a little more than necessary, to slip the tight hipster jeans up. She picks up the long-sleeved shirt with a low v-neck and puts it on as sexily as she could.

By the time she had finished dressing, Elena's face has turned crimson and Katherine could hear her heart thumping harder.

She decides to spare her doppelganger and heads to the adjoining bathroom. As she starts to apply her make-up, she replies to Elena's sarcastic comment. "I never planned on staying, so I only packed the necessities. Besides, you and I are the same size. We- You will accompany me to the mall some day, little Gilbert. Your clothes are boring. But I have an errand to run so we will have to do our girls' outing some other time…" _Once Damon isn't making a mess of my grand plan…_

She had been dwelling on her choices ever since the love-sick vampire-stalker divulged information. She staked him of course and him burned. _One less annoying love-sick fool to deal with..._

After checking her plain outfit once more and making sure there was no Katherine Pierce reflecting in the mirror, she steps out of the bathroom and saunters towards her doppelganger whose hair has strategically fallen to curtain her blushing face.

Rolling her eyes, she asks "How do I look?"

Elena doesn't look up from the journal. Instead, to Katherine's amusement, she gestures with her pen to the full-sized mirror. Katherine rolls her eyes and ignores the gesture. _Nobody tells me what to do_.

She reaches up to tuck Elena's hair behind her ear and a pair of wide hazel eyes stare back at her blinking incredulously. She repeats her question again and twirls on the spot. She had nailed the Gilbert girl down to a T; from the conservative outfit to her straight listless hair and natural make-up. No one would think otherwise.

"Are you going out?" She asks Elena who shakes her head vehemently.

_Perfect._ She didn't even have to convince Elena Gilbert to stay out of sight. Whilst Elena was downstairs preparing her breakfast, Katherine had snuck into her bedroom to begin the grueling process of straightening her hair. She had even taken Elena's mobile and switched it with one of her spares.

If there was one other thing Katherine was good at besides running, it was being prepared for everything. The phone had beeped a message from Bonnie a few minutes earlier before Elena entered the room. It had read: _Hey Elena, can we meet at the Grill at 1? I have the Grimoire._

She tunes back to Elena's monologue just in time to hear her say "I just want one day off from anything vampire-related."

Katherine shrugs happily and exits the room. "See you later, Gilbert."

_~o~_

'Elena' steps into Mystic Falls Grill and immediately scans for the witch. She spots Bonnie sitting in the booth, clutching the Grimoire and looking around warily.

She takes her time moving to the booth all the while scanning for any signs of danger. She spots Jenna sitting at the bar conversing animatedly with a man with rugged features. She hears the regular strong beating of his heart and ascertains that he is human and definitely not a threat.

The busboy with golden blond hair smiles as she passes by and greets her "Hey Elena."

"Hey Matt," she must have guessed correctly because he tilts his head at Bonnie and tells her that he'd be there later to take their orders.

She settles into the booth while comfortably exchanging greetings with Bonnie. Matt comes a few minutes later and takes their orders. They then settle down for small talk while waiting for their meals to be served. She listens to the witch complain about a certain dark-haired vampire bothering her. "He just wouldn't stop, Elena. He keeps going at it like a dog with a bone."

They stop talking when another busboy arrives with their steaming hot meals.

As Bonnie digs eagerly into her lunch, 'Elena' turns her head and spots Stefan walking in and heading towards the bar. As if by chance, he turns his head to her direction and she snaps her head back to focus on her lunch.

_Get the Grimoire and get out._

A pleasant silence passes between them as the witch hungrily digs into her meal while 'Elena' pushes her spaghetti around her plate. She takes her time twirling the spaghetti with her fork and eats leisurely. It was not her choice of substance but it would give off the sensation of feeling full.

Bonnie puts down her cutlery after polishing her plate and glances around the booth nervously before pushing the plate away. 'Elena' furrows her eyebrows and silently mirrors her friend's action.

After a few minutes of furrowed brows and silence, Bonnie takes out a thick black Grimoire with intricate designs. She takes in a deep breath and then breathes out before she slides the Grimoire towards 'Elena'.

'Elena' hesitantly touches the Grimoire and pulls it towards her very carefully, to avoid touching the witch's slender fingers. When the Grimoire has reached the edge of her side of the table, she takes the book and puts it back into her bag sitting next to her in on the booth seat.

She does her best to suppress a triumphant smirk as she changes her tone to one of curiosity. "Why would you pass it to me?"

Bonnie sighs in relief and replies, "He knows I have the Grimoire. I don't know how he knows, Elena. Could you… keep this safe with you until he stops looking? He almost killed Caroline today. I'm just so afraid he will hurt someone else. What if he finds Caroline when I'm not around? You have Stefan. I have my magic but Caroline… she's defenseless."

'Elena' leans in with a worried look on her face and Bonnie, sensing her friend's concern, "I dropped Care home with her mother, she has the day off so everything should be fine."

She carries on, hugging herself as she spoke softly, "You didn't see her, Elena. He's instilled this awful fear into her this morning. I have never seen her so frightened before… not even during the time when we were kids and Tyler made up this fake ghost story about beasts prowling in the forest at the campfire on Halloween night-"

'Elena' suppresses her natural reaction which was to roll her eyes at the predictable outcome and finishes Bonnie's sentence. "Yeah and he scared her later." Bonnie nods and smiles wistfully, "Yeah, those were the good old days when we didn't know vampires existed and god-knows-what other monsters are out there."

_Oh Bonnie Bennett, you really have no idea how close you are…_

_~o~_

Sometime in the evening, Damon trudges back to the boarding house, displeased and irritated. He slams the door hard that it reverberates throughout the house.

Bonnie and Blondie had somehow managed to evade him all afternoon after they had left him in the park, tending to an aneurysm courtesy from the witch. He decides to cool off first and get a drink before actually contemplating on what remaining choices he was left with.

He moves towards the living room and then spots 'Elena' casually lounging in his favorite armchair reading what seemed to be a very thick book.

He chooses to ignore her and heads for the liquor table. He picks up a glass and pours the whiskey into it before gulping it down angrily and refilling it again.

"Stefan isn't here," he states without turning around.

There was no reply from the girl; he could only hear her breathing, and the occasional crinkle of paper from behind. He turns around, curious, because the Gilbert girl would usually have something to say.

_What is she reading that has her so ensnared that she doesn't even bother to acknowledge my presence?_

He narrows his eyes and focuses on the faint symbols and diagrams whenever she turns a page. They mean nothing to him at first, but the more pages she turns, the more he recognizes what it is.

He remembered seeing something back in his memories. It finally dawns upon him what she was currently reading and he grits his teeth.

"Where did you get that?" he growls.

Elena casually turns a page and replies, "Bonnie gave it to me. You should thank her… nicely."

He mutters grumpily, "I will thank that judgy little witch bitch the next time I see her."

He knew Bennett had the Grimoire. If Jonathan Gilbert's and his father's journals didn't mention the dratted Grimoire, the only conclusion he could draw was that Emily had decided to keep it in her line of descendants' grasp.

Damon holds out his hand, palms up. "Be a good girl, Elena, and hand it over." He turned the town upside-down searching for the Grimoire and it turns out Elena Gilbert has the book all along.

"No."

He flashes to her suddenly morphing in an outburst. His irises turn black and his fangs elongate. Unfazed, she leans back against the armchair and looks nonplussed at the 'intimidating' sight.

His breath smelt of whiskey and had a faint whiff of metallic odor.

She arches an eyebrow in response. "Is that supposed to be scary? I always thought you'd come up with something more original than the clichéd media circus fools when you've got 171 years of experience."

She giggles. That should have been his first clue.

Completely oblivious to the clue that just got shoved in his face; he instead attempts to yank the Grimoire out of the human's hands. But it proves to be surprisingly and infuriatingly useless as the Grimoire doesn't budge an inch.

The strength of her grip was more powerful and he could feel himself losing grip. Her face morphs suddenly into vampire mode and with the surprise element to her advantage, she kicks him and sends him crashing into one of the bookshelves. Books cascade down on Damon as he stares at her in shock, slack-jawed for the second time today.

"T-T-That's... impossible!" He exhales from his position as he tries to comprehend. "You're supposed to be in the tomb. I've been here for weeks trying to find a way to free you... and you've been... What have you been doing exactly?!"

_Plotting to get rid of your meddlesome ass,_ Katherine muses silently as she closes the Grimoire and sets it onto the armchair that she had been sitting on.

She saunters her way to Damon, pondering on her choice of words that would tip things in her favor. "I was never in the tomb, Damon. I escaped before Emily sealed the tomb shut. I'm sorry but I cannot allow you to hand the Grimoire over."

Damon flashes towards her and slams her into another bookshelf. "Give me one good reason why I should believe you? I've been searching for so long to find a way to get you out… and now here you are, you walk back in my life and then start demanding I should-"

"I was running from someone, Damon. I didn't have a choice." She cut in before he finished his speech. There was something sharp poking at her spine as he forcibly pressed her against the bookshelf. She could have easily wrenched herself free of his grip but she chose to interrupt him instead.

"You could have told me-"

Annoyance building, Katherine exclaims "He's more powerful than you will ever be. I had to fake my own death. It was the only way to stop him from constantly searching for me. But I came back for you."

His grip loosens slightly as his head spins to grasp the new information. His voice wavers slightly as he staggers back. "You came back for me?"

Katherine steps forward slowly, her expression changing to one of feeling. She reaches to touch his face but he turns his head away, like a wounded animal. She steps into his space and watches his expression for signs of distress and anger. He seemed too shocked at the sight of her in Elena's outfit.

Finding none, she reaches out again and cups his face gently, whispering "I came back for you, only for you. He thinks I'm still inside the tomb, Damon. You can't give Anna the Grimoire. If she opens the tomb, I'll be dead. They will come for me."

Katherine hesitantly licks her lips and closes the distance between them. She meets his soldering eyes brimming full of love, hate, relief, distress, and so many more. "I have missed you so much. We can finally be together."

Just when she thinks she has him, he throws her onto the mahogany desk and one of the hands swipes the books away, making room. Lips crashed against each other in passionate heat, hands eagerly roam up and down, and bodies clash and rub in such a tantalizing sensation. The weight and strength of the two vampires banging around on top of the table is too much for the desk that it starts to splinter at the legs. Just as they are about to start ripping each other's clothes off, the table gives way and they crash to the floor in a heap of wood and splinters. He stops so suddenly that she impatiently makes a sound of irritation kindling in her throat.

He picks her up and tosses her over his shoulder and then flashes upstairs to his bed.

Damon throws her onto the bed forcefully. Katherine pushes herself up and impatiently rips his clothes off as he climbs on top of her. They bite and kiss with a burning passion. He leaves marks on her collarbone causing her to moan beautifully. He tears her shirt open and helps her with what's left of her clothes.

As the last scraps of the shirt came off her, she thought, _Good riddance, I hated that shirt._

He missed this. He missed her, the way she arched her body when he bit a sensitive area. The way she grabs the back of his hair. The feel of her sexy, curvaceous body pinned against him. The way she grinded her hips against his. Everything.

"I want you inside. Now," she looks at him with lidded eyes and he obliges her. He enters her in one swift move and she cries out sweetly as she easily accommodates him.

"You're mine," he growls as he traps her hands above her head and mercilessly pounds into her as he grunts in between. "Say it. Say that you're mine."

Katherine wrenches her hands out of his strong grip and grabs his throat with one hand whilst the other scratches his bare back in response to his demand. He hisses angrily and arches upwards causing her to moan as he hits a sweet spot. Morphing into vampire mode, he bares his fangs at her growling.

In moments, the roles reverse; the tables turn with an unexpected movement as she tightens around him. She rolls on top of the younger vampire all the while keeping his cock inside her.

She tightens her hold on his throat and continues to ride him at a faster pace, gyrating her hips more vigorously as she cries out in ecstasy on top of him. He groans as he climaxes, spurting his load inside her in a mix of pain and pleasure.

She bites hard in his shoulder to prolong the effects whilst they ride it out. She nips his bruised lips with her bloody lips.

"I will never be yours. Katherine Pierce belongs to no one."

_~o~_

As they settle their sweating bodies and Damon buries his face into her silky straight hair, breathing heavily from the physical exertion. A shrill ringing disrupts the pair in bed and he rolls away to answer.

"Did you get it?" A demanding female voice pierces sharply into his ear.

"Deal's off." He hangs up promptly and tosses the phone back onto the bedside table. He rolls back to the object of his desire and continues to kiss a very satisfied Katherine in his bed.

* * *

**A/N: How do you like it? Love it? Hate it? Review please and add in suggestions for a short filler chapter, starring only Damon & Katherine, preferably out of town setting. You get to decide what they do, whether they go on a short road trip for 3 days and [fill in the blanks]. Do note the filler chapter has to be posted before I post part 2 because I don't want it to look like I'm rushing through the plot. Therefore, if you want part 2 ASAP, I need plenty of feedback and suggestions. Be nice and attach a muse. **


End file.
